The planned amendment to the Working Hours Act, as of September 2026
The ministerial draft amending the Working Hours Act provides for electronic recording as the standard case, with an exemption for businesses with up to ten employees. It has so far neither been adopted by the cabinet nor debated in parliament. It is not applicable law.
As of:September 2026
What a ministerial draft is
A ministerial draft is the working state of a federal ministry. It goes into inter-departmental coordination and consultation with associations, is revised afterwards and is only then adopted by the cabinet as a government bill. It then passes through the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.
Between a ministerial draft and entry into force there are usually months, often years, and the text changes along the way. No duty can therefore be derived from a draft.
What the draft says
At its core is the electronic recording of the start, the end and the duration of daily working time on the day of work. It provides for transition periods staggered by size of business, and a permanent exemption for businesses with up to ten employees, which would still be allowed to record without a prescribed form. The scale is in the table below.
It is to be possible to delegate the recording, with the responsibility staying with the employer. Trust-based working time is expressly to remain possible. A range of fines of up to 50,000 euros is under discussion for breaches.
Collective agreements are to be able to allow deviating rules, for instance recording that is not to the day. How far that extends is one of the most contested points.
- The electronic form as the standard case, with transition periods by size of business.
- An exemption for businesses with up to ten employees.
- Recording on the day of work instead of within seven days.
- Trust-based working time remains possible.
- A range of fines of up to 50,000 euros under discussion.
What already applies today
Regardless of the draft, the duty to record working time has existed since the Federal Labour Court order of 13 September 2022 (1 ABR 22/21). It follows from section 3(2) no. 1 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and applies to all sizes of business, with no exemption for small ones.
The record-keeping duties from section 17 of the Minimum Wage Act for marginally employed people and for the industries under section 2a of the Act to Combat Undeclared Work, and from section 17c of the Temporary Employment Act for hirers, also apply unchanged.
Knowing the rules is one thing, keeping to them day to day another. MetronHR checks breaks, rest periods and maximum working time automatically as time is recorded.
The transition periods in detail
The draft gives all businesses one year, and for smaller businesses it extends that period considerably. The specific figures are missing from almost every account of the subject, yet it is precisely they that decide whether there is any pressure to act.
For most small and medium-sized businesses it follows that there is no short-term legislative pressure. Anyone with up to ten employees would be permanently exempt, anyone with up to fifty would have up to five years, and that from a law that does not yet exist.
Transition periods under the ministerial draft of the Federal Ministry of Labour of 18/06/2026, retrieved on 03/09/2026. They would run from entry into force, which is still outstanding.
| Size of business | What the draft provides for |
|---|---|
| up to 10 employees | permanently exempt, may continue to record non-electronically |
| up to 50 employees | up to 5 years' transition period |
| up to 250 employees | 2 years' transition period |
| from 250 employees | 1 year's transition period, as for everyone |
up to 10 employees
- What the draft provides for
- permanently exempt, may continue to record non-electronically
up to 50 employees
- What the draft provides for
- up to 5 years' transition period
up to 250 employees
- What the draft provides for
- 2 years' transition period
from 250 employees
- What the draft provides for
- 1 year's transition period, as for everyone
Figures from the ministerial draft, not from applicable law. The draft has neither been adopted by the cabinet nor debated in parliament, and both deadlines and amounts may still change in the process.
What businesses should do now
Anyone not yet recording should start. Anyone already recording should check whether the system can record to the day and handle traceable corrections; both are in the draft and make sense without it.
What does not make sense is waiting for the amendment or justifying purchases with a supposed deadline. Anyone encountering a provider advertising a "duty from 2026" should ask what that is based on.
Further reading:Ministerial draft amending the Working Hours Act, as of 18/06/2026 · Federal Labour Court, order of 13/09/2022, 1 ABR 22/21 · Section 22 ArbZG, section 17 MiLoG, section 17c AUeG · Osborne Clarke, news on the Working Hours Act: what the Federal Ministry of Labour's ministerial draft of 18 June 2026 means for HR practice, retrieved on 03/09/2026 · Rhine-Neckar Chamber of Commerce, time recording 2026, retrieved on 03/09/2026 · Energie und Recht, reform of the Working Hours Act 2026, retrieved on 03/09/2026
This is not legal advice; for a specific case at your workplace you are better off asking someone qualified to give it.
Published by: AMNAU GmbH
Editorial responsibility: Ugur Aydogan, Product development.
Last reviewed: September 2026
Frequently asked questions
What we are asked about this most often.
So far not at all. The electronic form appears only in the ministerial draft amending the Working Hours Act. A cabinet decision and parliamentary proceedings are still outstanding. The general duty to record, by contrast, has applied since 13/09/2022, in any form.
Not under applicable law. The draft provides for such an exemption, but it concerns only the electronic form. The duty to record itself would remain there too, just without a prescribed form.
The draft staggers them by size of business: up to ten employees there is a permanent exemption, up to fifty employees up to five years, up to 250 employees two years, and one year applies as the basic period for everyone. Counted from entry into force, which is still outstanding. For businesses between five and a hundred employees that means there is no short-term legislative pressure.
The amount is in the draft. Today there is no separate fine provision for missing records in the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Breaches of the Working Hours Act itself, for instance of maximum working time or rest periods, already carry fines of up to 30,000 euros (section 22 ArbZG).
Under the draft yes, expressly. Trust-based working time means the timing of working time is not dictated; it still has to be recorded. That is already the position today.
No. The duty already exists, and a system that records to the day and logs corrections also meets the requirements from the draft. Anyone who waits accumulates a problem of proof in the meantime.
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